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PRL 206
After interviewing my two friends and sister about public relations, I realized that the
general public is confused about what public relations actually is and what the profession entails.
When I interviewed these people, they were a little confused about the questions and it took them
a long time to come up with an answer to each question. All three participants of the survey
informed me that they were very confused about what public relations actually is.
I first interviewed my friend named Maggie that is currently an undecided major in the
College of Arts and Sciences here at Syracuse University. Maggie told me that the first thing she
thought of when she heard public relations was “the relationship between two public domains.”
When I asked her why she thinks of public relations in this way, she told me that she felt like it
was kind of straightforward and assumed that public relations involves relationships with the
public because it is in the name. Maggie told me that her cousin was a public relations major in
college so that is where her slim knowledge of public relations came from. She told me she
thought that the skills needed to work in public relations would be professionalism and
creativity. She also thinks that “one would need to be personable” and that “they should also be
able to talk to people well.” Maggie was confused about the difference between public relations,
marketing, and advertising. She told me she doesn’t really know much about marketing and
advertising; however, she believes that public relations is more “personable” than marketing and
a junior in high school. She told me that she thinks “public relations is a job where you
communicate with people through writing or through social media.” Like Maggie, she told me
that she thinks of public relations in this way because it is kind of “self-explanatory” because of
the words “public” and “relations.” Meghan told me she doesn’t know where she learned about
this definition of public relations and told me she “kind of just guessed.” When I asked her about
the skills needed for this profession, she told me that one “should be able to communicate well
with people and be good at talking to a group of people.” Next, I asked Meghan how she would
distinguish public relations from marketing and advertising. She told me that “marking and
advertising involves selling items while public relations deals with people.” She had nothing else
The last person I interviewed was my friend named Tim. He is currently studying music
at Boston College and has no knowledge about public relations. He told me that he believes that
public relations is “a way of protecting someone from bad media.” He was unsure why he
thought of public relations in this way and told me he was just guessing. Tim thinks that maybe
he learned it through his dad because his dad runs a business and “probably has a PR person.”
When I asked Tim about the skills needed for working in public relations, he told me that one
would have to “be able to speak well with people” and “be politically correct.” Lastly, I asked
him to distinguish public relations from marketing and advertising. He told me that “marketing
and advertising can be positive or negative but public relations protects someone’s reputation.”